Speed governor and driving mechanism



Jan. 24, 1933. LA MONT A. MCDOWELL 1,895,199

SPEED GOVERNOR AND DRIVING MECHANISM I Filed.Feb. 15. 19:52

INVENTOR.

LA Mum A. MD DUWELL BY j ATT/ NEY.

Patented Jan. 24, 1933 LA MONT AQMCDOWELL, F RAGINE, WISCONSIN" i .i

srnnncovnnnon AND DRIVING MncnAnIsM "Application" filed February 13 1-9325 Serial no; 592,72

r This invention appertains to a novel device for operatively connecting a' drive and a driven member, and more particularly to a combined speed governor and driving con- 5 nection, whereby the driven member will be automatically disconnected from the drive member when the speed of the drive member falls below a predetermined number of revo lutions per minute; v

One of the primary objects of my invention is the provision of a driving connection embodying a rotary drive member rotatably mounted on a driven member shaft, with means including centrifugally operated weights for automatically connecting the drive member with the shaft, whereby the drive and driven members will rotate as a unit when the driven member is accelerated to a predetermined speed.

Anothersalient object of' my invention is the provision of a drive member, which can be in the nature of a pulley, rotatably mounted on a driven shaft, with a novel gear mech anism for connecting the driven-member with the shaft, after the drive member has reached a predetermined speed,]said gear mechanism including a clutch automatically operated by centrifugal actuated weights for connecting anddisco-nnecting' said gear mechanism, with the drive and: driven members.

A further object of my invention is the provision of means for rendering the centrifugally actuated weights inoperative, so

that a positive driving connection can be had at all times, between the drive and driven members, irrespective of the speed of rotation of the drive member. v

A further object of my invention is the 4 provision of novel means for forming, the

drive elementof the device, said drive element being in the nature of a hollow casing rotatably mounted upon the drive shaft, with a novel systemof gearing arranged within the hollow housing and operatively connecting the housing with the driven shaft;

A still further object of'my invention is to provide a combined speed governor and drive connection between a drive and a driven member, of the above character, which will be durable and efficientin use, one that will be simple andeasy to manufacture-and one which can be placedupon the market at a reasonable cost. E:

With these and'other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described, claimed and illustrated in the accompany- 7 ing drawing, in which: i

The figure is a central diametric section through my improved combination speed governor and drive unit. v

Referring to thedrawing in detail,wherein theletter A generally indicates my improved device, which comprises a drive member 5 and a driven shaft6. The drive member 5 is in the form of a hollowfcircular house ing 7, whichincludes inner and outer coinpanion interfitting sections 8 and 9, which can be connected together in any desired way; The housing sections 8 and 9 each carry hub sleeves 10 andll, respectively, at their axis for receiving the drivenshaft 6. The hous- A ing 7 can be actuated from a prime mover, or any other operating device, in any preferred way, such asby means of afbelt, chain, gears or other mechanicaltransmissionr- As shown, the meeting faces of the housing sections ,8 and 9 are provided with oppositely curvedannular flanges 12', which define a ulley for receiving'a pulley belt (not shown The driven shaft 6 extends through a supporting plate 13, which can beconsidered' as t a bearing bracket, or as part of a supporting' housing. Keyed or otherwise secured to the stationary plate 13 is a bearing sleeve 14, in which the shaft 6 is rotatably'mounted. Keyed to the inner end of the bearing sleeve let-is a stationary spur gear 15,'and, as shown, thisQgear 15 is arranged within the hollow drive housing. A spacer or bearing sleeve 16 can be interposed between the bearing sleeve 14 and the casing sleeve 11, if so desired, and meanscan be provided for lubricating the said driven'shaft.

Rotatably mounted within the hollow drive housing 7 at spaced points around'the axis 7 thereof, are supporting shafts 17 and these, shafts carry connected spur gears 18 and housing 7 and the driven shaft 6.

19. These connected gears 18 and 19 are in the nature of double gears and the part -or gear 19 thereof,'meshes at all times with of the drive housing 7.-

a driven constantly thereby during rotation This gear 20 carries a thrust bearing 21-,

and this, thrust bearing is engaged by the arms of a yoke 22 formedon or secured to a centering weight 2 3 The weight 23 is rockably mounted on apiv'ot'pin 24 connected with thedrive housing 7 Thus, durin rotation of the drive housing 7, centri ugal I actionwill'normally tend to move the weight 23 outward toward the periphery of the drive housing,'and, consequently, bringthe yoke against the bearing 21 for shifting the gear 20 longitudinally on the shaft 6. 9 A relatively heavy expansion coil spring 25' is employed for-normally resisting the centrifugalaction, and the tension of this spring canbe adjusted. by the use of a suitable set screw 26 or the like. During comparatively slow rotation of the drive housing 7, centrifugal. action on' the weights23 willbeinsuflicient to overcome the tension of the spring 25, but as soon as the rotation of the drive casing reaches a predetermined speed,the centrifugal action'flon the weights will overcome thetension of the spring and thus shift the gear 20 on its driven Secured to the driven shaft 6 the use of a suitable pin27, or the like, is a'clutchsec tion 28, and asshown, this 'clutc'h'sectionis- 'rotatably mounted within thehubsleev'e 10 offthe-drive housing 7 The clutch'section 28,rand;the"shiftable gear 20 can be provided with. any preferred type of'clutch faces, so

' that. when the gear 20 is shifted laterally, a

driving-,- connection will; be had between the gear 20 and the clutch section 28 for bringing ab-out'a drivingconnection between the drive As shown in'thedrawing, the clutch section 28 carries hdrivepins-29 which areadapted to be received'jwithin socket openings 30 formed inone face of the gear 20. In order to normally hold the shiftable gear 20 from out of engagement with the clutch section 28,'a push ring 31is provided and this push ring is normally pressed toward 'thegear 20 by means of expansion springs 32 carried by the clutch sections 28.

WAS-shown, the push ring 3l' is-provided with :openingsthrough which the clutchpins 29extend. Ifdesired, means can be provided forslidably connectingthe push ring with the clutch sectionr28, whereby the push ring will be held at all times in a predetermined position relative to said clutch section. v

. In operation of my improved device, the drive housing 7 is rotated in any preferred way, and the gears 18 and '19 are rotated through their engagement with the stationary gear 15, After the drive housing 7 reaches a predetermined speed, the weight 23 will be moved outward by centrifugal force against-thetension of spring 25, and o the gear 20 will be shifted on the driven shaft 6'into engagementwith the clutch section 28 against the tensionnofithe springs 32. The

"driven shaft 6 "will then be rotated by the drive housing 7. After the speedof the drive housing 7 falls below a predetermined rate, the spring '25 will overcome the centrifugal force acting on the weight and return the 31' will then function to move! the gear 20 back to its normal position, and thus bring about the disengagement of saidgear20 with the'clutch section'28.

WVhen it is desired to use the device asa ing and holding this weight back against the tension of the spring 25. Obviously, the

, rocking of the weight 23 by the screw 35 will move the gear 20 into driving contact with the clutch section 28. r I v The gearmech-anism, as shown, permits a same, to its normal-position. .-;The' push ring- 3 loo speed reduction in this case of 17% to 1;

other ratios can be obtainedby changing the number of teeth on the gears. In the present instance, the gear 15 and gear 19 have thirtysix teeth, gear. 18 has thirty-five teeth and gear 20 has'thirty-seven teeth. Every revolution of housing 5, gear. 18' movesz'gear 2Q forward twoteeth. If there were thirtyseven teeth in gear 18 and thirty-five teeth in gear20,th e movement would be backward instead of forward; so a mechanism is prof j vided that will'greatly reduce the speed in either direction.

I The set screw .35 has only been shown way of illustrationfor locking the governor,

and it is obvious that other mechanism can bef employed inlieul thereof, for holding; the

governor against movement 7 under influence of its spring 25i Thus, a bolt and a spring can be utilized, so that when the bolt is tightened up, for placing the spring under tension, upon turning of the housing, the clutch will snap inplace as soon asfthe pins 29 and holes 30 register.

- From the foregoing descriptiomit can be seen'that I have provided an exceptionally simple and durable speed control device and drive transmission.

While I have illustrated one particularv form of myinvention in the drawing, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not to be limited to such construction, but that changes can be made therein provided the same do not part from the spirit or the scope of the claims, and what I claim as new is:

I claim:

1. In a combined speed governor and drive transmission, a driven shaft, a hollow drive member rotatable about the driven shaft, a stationary spur gear arranged within the drive housing, pairs of connected gears rotatably carried by the housing and arranged at equally distantly spaced points around the driven shaft, one of the gears of the pair of gears meshing with the stationary gear, a clutch including a stationary section secured to the driven shaft, a shiftable clutch section rotatable about the driven shaft hav ing gear teeth meshing with the other gear of the pair of gears, and means including a movable weight carried by the drive housing for actuating the shiftable section of the clutch.

2. In a combined speed governor and drive transmission, a driven shaft, a hollow drive member rotatable about the driven shaft, a stationary spur gear arranged within the drive housing, pairs of connected gears rotatably carried by the housing and arranged at equally distantly spaced points around the driven shaft, one of the gears of the pair of gears meshing with the stationary gear, a clutch including a stationary section secured to the driven shaft, a shiftable clutch section rotatable about the driven shaft having gear teeth meshing w th the other gear of the pair of gears, means including a movable weight carried by the drive housing for actuating the shiftable section of the clutch, and spring means engaging the weight for normally holding the weightagainst movement under centrifugal action.

3. In a combined speed governor and drive transmission, a driven shaft, a hollow drive member rotatable about the driven shaft. a stationary spur gear arranged within the drive housing, pairs'of connected gears rotatably carried by the housing and arranged at equally distantly spaced points around the driven shaft, one of the gears of the pair of gears meshing with the stationary gear, a clutch including a stationary section se cured to the driven shaft, a shiftable clutch section rotatable about the driven shaft having gear teeth meshing with the other gear v of the pair of gears, means including a movable weight carried by the drive housing for actuating the shiftable section of the clutch,

spring means engaging the weight for normally holding the weight against movement under centrifugal action, and means for varying the tension of said spring.

4. In a combined speed governor and drive transmission, a drive housing, a driven shaft rotatably mounted in said housing, a station- I ary gear disposed about said driven shaft mounted within the housing, a pair of gears rotatably carried by the housing and arran ed radially of the driven shaft, one of sai pair of gears meshing with the stationary gear, a clutch including a stationary section and a shiftable section, means connecting the stationary section with the. driven shaft, the shiftable section being rotatable relative to the driven shaft and having teeth meshing with the other "gear of the pair of gears, spring means normally holding the shiftable clutch from out of engagement with the stationary clutch section, a weighted'member rockably mounted at one side'of the drive housing, arms carried by the weighted member engaging the shiftable clutchsection, and spring means engaging the weighted member for normally holding the arm away from the shiftable section.

5. In a combined speed governor and drive transmission, a drive housing, a driven shaft rotatably mounted in said housing, a stationary gear disposed about said driven shaft mounted within the housing, a pair of gears rotatably carried by the housing and arranged radially of the driven shaft, one of said pair of gears meshing with the stationary gear, a clutch including a stationary section and a shiftable section, means connecting the stationary section with the driven shaft, the shiftable section being rotatable relative to the driven shaft and having teeth meshing with the other gear of the. pair of gears, spring means normally holding the shiftable section from out of engagement with the stationary clutch section, a weighted member rockably mounted at one s de to the drive housing, arms carried by the weighted member engaging the shiftable clutch section, spring means engaging the weighted member for normally holding the arm away from the shiftable clutch section, 

